The operation led to the arrest of a ringleader and two of the members of his security group, who had intentions of carrying out terrorist operations in Huila and Cundinamarca.
The operations of military intelligence, collection of physical evidence and evidentiary material, as well as the coordination of coordinated and inter-institutional Resources led troops of the Ninth Brigade of the National Army, together with the Police and the Prosecutor's Office, to arrest three men, among them the ringleader of the structure Grupo Sur of the ELN, which intended to enter the department of Huila to commit crimes.
This is the man known under the alias Víctor, Pipas or el Indio, and a man and a woman who were part of his security team, who were arrested in the municipality of La Chivera, in the municipality of Villavieja, in the Tatacoa desert. In his possession, the authorities found two rifles, three pistols, two shotguns, magazines, ammunition of different calibres, communication radios, bullet-proof vests and armbands, as well as cash.
The decisive operation is conducted after about 12 months of follow-up to counteracts the intention of this organized armed group to enter and, for the first time, position its armed structure, which had the mission to monopolize the areas where formerly the front 17 Angelino Godoy, conducted crimes, the way to strategic connect the departments of Caquetá, Meta, Huila and Cundinamarca.
Intelligence reports led to establish that, in the so-called Fifth Congress, the ELN would have planned various criminal operations, such as territorial expansion and the strengthening of structures or subsystems in areas where residual organized armed groups had no impact. In Huila, these intentions would be concentrated in the north of the department.
The most recent plans of the ELN were aimed at the incursion of the armed part and the positioning of the structure in the rural area of the municipality of Tello, from where they not only intended to establish on that mobility route, but in the same way to increase extortive practices and forced recruitment, as well as design plans for terrorist attacked in Huila and Cundinamarca.
In the framework of its plans under the command of alias Víctor ou Pipas, the organized armed group is being investigated as alleged responsible for the murders of Álvaro Cubillo Serrato and Duván Felipe Gómez Charry, in events reported in San Andrés, Tello, in January and August 2021, respectively, as well as for the collection of money extorted from productive groups.
Alias Indio, Víctor ou Pipas, 40, 17 of them would be carrying out criminal operations. According to information of the authorities, he had entered as a member of the ranks, then he climbed positions until he became a squad ringleader; later, he was a guerrilla and militia ringleader and it was in 2016 that he was designated as a military ringleader of the ELN, projecting his operations in the department of Huila.
He has training in criminal activities as a combatant, weapons management, group commander command, explosives expert and sniper.
In addition to his already known criminal plans, it was known that alias Indio would have among his objectives the murder of a journalist in the capital city of Huila.
Source: press-National Army
